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Divided cinema group shows profits of over €922,000

Dublin Cinema Group had €22 million in assets ahead of split earlier this year

Sat, Apr 20, 2013, 06:00

After a High Court hearing failed to end a long-running dispute between the Wards and Andersens, who owned the business since the 1950s, the group was split between them. The Ward family got the Savoy and Screen cinemas in Dublin. Photograph: David Sleator

Latest results for the cinema business that was divided earlier this year following a bitter court battle between its owners shows that there was a lot worth fighting over.

Dublin Cinema Group, which was divided between its owners, the Andersen and Ward families in January after a feud that ended up in the High Court, had net assets of €22 million on October 31st, the end of its last full financial year.

Accounts show that the company, whose cinema chain included the Savoy in Dublin and Omniplex in Cork, made profits of more than €922,000 in the 12 months preceding that date and its operations generated more than €2.55 million in cash over the same period.

Profits advanced
Cashflow was relatively level with the previous year, but profits advanced by more than €300,000, thanks in part to a €100,000 increase in bank interest payments. The balance sheet shows that the company had more than €11 million in the bank at the end of October.

After a High Court hearing failed to end a long-running dispute between the Wards and Andersens, who owned the business since the 1950s, the group was split between them.

The Ward family got the Savoy and Screen cinemas in Dublin while the Andersens took the Omniplex in Cork.

Relations between the families soured in the late 1990s, but the differences between the two came to a head over the last decade when Paul Andersen agreed to develop a cinema in the Stephen’s Green Centre in Dublin. Paul Ward argued Andersen had acted contrary to the group’s best interests.